Authors of comments may be penalized for the content they publish on media platforms
Unimedia.info is one of the most popular online media platforms in Moldova
The Get the Trolls Out! project monitors religious hate speech and encourages young people to fight against religious discrimination and intolerance in Europe.
As part of this project, GTTO partner Independent Journalism Centre (IJC) has the task of monitoring both traditional and social media to examine the ways in which they report on religious topics and to note instances of anti-religious narratives.
During the month of January, as part of the regular media monitoring activities, the Independent Journalism Centre (IJC) found that several readers' comments on articles published by news portal Unimedia.info did not adhere to legal standards. Unimedia.info is one of the most popular online media platforms in Moldova, being in the 8th place among the portals preferred by media consumers. Its audience reached about 41K real users, which generated over 140K page views in January 2024, while Unimedia.info page on Facebook reached 122,000 followers.
Editorial credit: 13_Phunkod / Shutterstock.com
In general, authors of these comments are accountable for the content they write and post in response to materials published on media platforms. However, site administrators also carry the responsibility of adhering to the Journalist's Code of Ethics. This policy dictates that media institutions, when managing their website and social media accounts, must not permit or tolerate any derogatory comments or reactions that violate legal or ethical standards. This includes comments from the public as well as those generated internally.
Through routine media monitoring, 16 editorial materials published on the website were flagged due to the presence of discriminatory rhetoric discovered in the comment sections. These included offensive comments, the use of obscene language, and stereotypical discriminatory labels which could be categorised as incitement to hatred towards representatives of one or more ethnicities.
Furthermore, the majority of these comments contained antisemitic connotations. However, as the Terms and Conditions section of Unimedia.info is currently being developed, it wasn't possible to determine if these deviations violated the portal's internal policies. Consequently, the portal's editorial team was informed by IJC of the urgent need to establish this section, outlining explicit guidelines for user behavior and language. This includes implementing comment moderation procedures to approve or reject comments in accordance with the site's regulations.
In reaction, Olesea Bolboceanu, the administrator of the Unimedia portal, responded positively to the IJC's request, noting that they are currently working to remedy the situation, however, due to a lack of human resources, the moderation of comments is quite difficult. "Comments that violate the terms and conditions are removed, but trolls are very persistent. We are trying to improve the process of reviewing and rejecting comments that are hateful, defamatory, or contain objectionable language. In election years the situation worsens, unfortunately", said Olesea Bolboceanu.
Even if the right to seek, receive and communicate facts and ideas is guaranteed to every person by the Law on freedom of expression (No. 64 of 23.04.2010), in relation to Article 3 of this legal provision, certain situations are specified when freedom of expression can be restricted, in particular, in cases where it is necessary to protect the rights or reputations of others. Thus, the guarantees regarding freedom of expression do not extend to speech that incites hatred or violence. According to Article 7 of the same law, "every person has the right to defend his honor, dignity and professional reputation damaged by spreading false reports about the facts, value judgments without sufficient factual basis or by slander". Clear legal provisions are also outlined in the Contravention Code of the Republic of Moldova, which prescribes penalties for insults conveyed through mass media in written form via computer systems. These penalties may include fines ranging from 12 to 24 UC or community service ranging from 15 to 30 hours.
Similarly, defamation and incitement to discrimination, which involves disseminating information or informing the public via media or written content through a computer system, are also subject to penalties. Individuals may face fines ranging from 20 to 80 UC, while responsible persons could be fined between 120 to 210 UC.
Content moderation is extremely important as it is both the media portals legal and moral responsibility to ensure that their platform remains hate free and is not used as a means to spread discriminatory rhetoric. Media outlets must uphold these practices and actively monitor audience comments and reactions to prevent the spread of any form of discrimination on their platforms.
